DC.watch (translation here) reports that the new Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4 SSM lens for Sony A-mount will be released in Spring. It has a 72mm filter diameter, circular aperture diaphragm, 8 lens in 5 groups  and 45cm close focusing distance. Price is yet unknown. Editors’s note: Glad that we finally had a positive A-mount news :)

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P.S.: We have many Zeiss 50mm lenses for different mounts all priced between 500 and 800 dollars:
[shoplink 14186 ebay]Zeiss Normal 50mm f/1.4 ZE Planar T* for Canon (see auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 14187 ebay]Zeiss Normal 50mm f/1.4 ZE Planar T* for Nikon (see auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 14188 ebay]Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 50mm f/1.4 50/1.4 LTM (see auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 14190 ebay]Zeiss Normal 50mm f/1.4 for Contax (see auctions on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 14189 ebay]Carl Zeiss Planar T* 1.4/50 ZF 50mm F1.4 Nikon Ai-S (see auctions on eBay)[/shoplink].

Luca Rossinis 365 days project with the NEX-7 is about to end. You can read more about it here: http://www.lucarossini.it/category/366nex/. You also know him for that great job he did with Sony on the new NEX-6 in Alaska. There may be a new project soon and I can’t wait to see his new idea :)

And here are two more friends articles:
Robin Wong (Click here) made his first attempt to shoot in Studio with Alpha stuff. Alpha Studio Experience.
And Jordan Steele (Click here) explains in a must read article why the Full Frame equivalence doens’t matter.

The video on top is made again by that crazy Kai from Digitalrev! A noble attempt to make a joke about the “fanboyism” culture :)  But we have to admit…the last two days have been that frustrating for us (see unspectacular CP+ announcements and fw upgrade) that we certainly have no reason to be a Sony fanboy!

Now lemme focus again on future news. I just got a weird info about a possible Sony square sensor from an anonymous source. As I have no other way to contact him than writing within that official SAR post I may ask the source to contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com? Thanks! And you SAR readers keep feet on earth. This is just an anonymous message and often those messages are not right at all.

A99 price drops:
That said I noticed that Cameraland keeps selling small numbers of new A99 cameras for $2,499 on [shoplink 16705 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. They keep posting such deals 1-2 times per week. To get notified when this happens login and save this search on our eBay application Slidoo (Click here).

Dpreview (Click here) posted that nice table that displays the firmware update details. That said I am disappointed that Sony hasn’t taken the chance to also improve other aspects of our SLT and NEX cameras. There are so many bug fix and features requests here and on other sites and none of them has been addressed. It seems like that some managers at Sony do not understand that by not supporting continually our cameras they will not gain the trust from customers. Sony has superb engineers and lots of tech. But service is crucial too!

Sony Japan (translation here) just announced that they will release a new firmware update for SLT and NEX cameras on February 05th. This is the google translated text:

Α99:
SAL100M28(book6),SAL50M28, SAL85F28 adds automatic lens correction support, SAL85F14Z, SAL135F18Z, SAL70300G, SAL70200G, SAL35F14G, SAL1635Z, SAL100M28, SAL50M28, SAL85F28, SAL300F28G[2] adding compatible lens [1] Dual AFSAL24F20Z(book 11), SAL18200, SAL20F28, SAL28F28
Α77, α65, α57, α37 
Add Lens for automatic correction [1]SAL100M28(book6),SAL50M28, SAL85F28, SAL18200, SAL20F28, SAL28F28
NEX-7
Faster storage corresponding lens when the power is turned OFF when using automatic correction [1] SELP1650 when using [2] SELP1650
NEX-5N
Distortion correction is possible in Ver.4.2 or later software “(image data converter) Image Data Converter” developmentversion up※ RAW dataof [2] RAW data format support automatic correction when using [1] SELP1650 [3 Improved stability of the operation [5] AF lens container faster when the power is turned OFF (1.0EV, 2.0EV, 3.0EV) at the time of use [4] SELP1650 adding the number of stages of the continuous mode setting bracket]
NEX-F3
Automatic correction when using the corresponding [1] SELP1650
NEX-6, NEX-5R
SEL1018(book5),SEL35F18, SEL30M35, SEL50F18, SEL18200LEaddition of compatible lenses [1] Fast hybrid AF

Have you found the original english press text?

[shoplink 16632 ebay][/shoplink]

Finally the Speed Booster adapter is shipping via the Metabones website and also in Stock for the regular price on [shoplink 16632 ebay]eBay (via HK)[/shoplink]. And to get notified when more adapters are in Stock save this search on Slidoo eBay (login and change your root country if required).

GetDPI user Brianc discovered that the Speed Bosster and “Tilt Shift combo optical axis decoupling results in some unexpected results.“. And another test is available at Japanese DC.watch (translation here).

There is finally a shipping date for the new Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens. According to BHphoto (Click here) the A-mount lens will be available in March only :(  If you can’t wait that much and want a nice cheap lens you may grab the Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 instead (here at Amazon). Only drawback…it’s a manual focusing lens only.

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P.S.: To get notified when the Sigma lens will be on eBay login and save this search at Slidoo.